Lando Norris retains Max Verstappen to win the Australian Grand Prix

Lando Norris and his teammate Oscar Piastri slide into the grass in an accumulated F1 race in Melbourne. Lewis Hamilton ended tenth in his debut in Ferrari.

Lando Norris de McLaren held the current world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing to win an Australian Grand Prix full of incidents and opening of the season on Sunday in Melbourne.

Starting in the post, Norris crossed the finish line to 1: 42.06,304 seconds, only 0.895 second ahead of Verstappen to complete a race affected by rain and a series of accidents.

“He was amazing,” Norris said after his fifth victory in his career. “A difficult race, especially with Max behind me. I was pressing, especially the last two laps were a bit stressful, but a surprising way to start the year.”

Norris suffered an anxious moment after he and his teammate Oscar Piastri slid over the grass, which resulted in Verstappen capturing leadership after Norris faced himself.

“A difficult one because we left, we made great mistakes and crossed the gravel and caused a lot of damage,” said British Norris. “It was only difficult conditions, but these are the ones that are pleasant, fun and unpredictable, but this time we did well and ended at the top, so I am very happy.”

The drivers of Mercedes George Russell (8,481 seconds behind Norris) and the Italian adolescent Andrea Kimi Antonelli (10,135 seconds) finished third and fourth, respectively, and the Williams driver Alex Albon (12,773 seconds) completed the first five. Initially, Antonelli received a penalty of five seconds by the administrators for an insecure release, however, the penalty was revoked after Mercedes appealed the decision.

The seven -time world champion Lewis Hamilton ended in tenth place in his debut in Ferrari.

“I am grateful to finish, at least I got a point,” Hamilton said. “In general, it is not what I expected, but there was a lot to get used to, to get used, with all the configurations and change changes that they (the team) were throwing you (by radio).

“Then only the balance of the car … it was really very, very complicated, very, very complicated today. I think we can improve that in the next race, hopefully, and take the car in a sweetest place. I think there is much more potential in the car than we could extract today.”

Hamilton surprised the world of Formula 1 when he signed with the iconic Italian team in February 2024 before closing his historic 12 -year -old race with Mercedes.